I am still here…

by Janie Jones

Fall semester held me in it’s miserable thrall up to the last possible moment. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped, but all things considered I did pretty well. As I look at my grades I had to laugh. Apparently I wasn’t allowed to get the same grade in more than one class:

Genetics Lab: A

Virology: A-

Genetics Lecture: B+

Biochemistry Lecture: B

Biochemistry Lab: B-

If it wasn’t for that cursed Biochemistry Lab being twice the work of all my other classes combined it would have been a very different semester, I tell you.

But, it is over and now I have 72 more class days left in the spring semester to endure before graduation.

The holidays were fun, but busy. The spud visited which was nice, but exhausting. And, right after taking her back to the airport it was a mad dash to finish off the essays for my Graduate School application.

Oh, that was fun. Man o man, have I stories I could tell, only I’m so ripped to shreds by the last 4 months that I have lost the will to bitch.

In any event, it has been submitted and application fees are paid so it is out of my hands now. The decision on whether I am accepted will probably come sometime by the end of March. Depending on the outcome I may graduate in May and be done with the collegiate chapter of my life, or I may decide I haven’t been totally and utterly annihilated by the educational system yet and pick up another 4-6 years.

And in the Lyme Research Lab we have been out of media (read bacteria food) for over 2 months. Apparently there is only one place in the United States that makes the precise formula these bacteria live on, and they are, I guess, back ordered for some unfathomable reason.

I managed to scrounge up a couple dozen mLs from another researcher who didn’t need it and have had my little buggers on short rations this whole time. But I have about two more feedings left (about 2 weeks) and then they starve to death.

You might not think this is such a bad thing. But in a research lab, if you have no subject to research, well, you don’t get much done. And, in general you don’t get paid to do nothing. I volunteer, so what does that say about me. Should I be worried? Well, I kinda wanted to do my graduate studies with this lab.